Bits and Pieces, Odds and Ends
by Lady Ayme
Summary: Stories that may or may not ever be finished/expanded upon. First up: America throws another, albeit smaller, Halloween party, and the resulting chaos ends up affecting several of the following holidays.
1. Holiday Havoc - What to Were

Holiday Havoc - What to Were, What Not to Were

I wanted to do something for Halloween. I had actually wanted to do this last year but ran out of time, inspiration, and motivation. So much for that not happening to a similar extent this time too, though school was a big factor this time. Now with additional ideas this is looking to be very long...if I ever finish it anyway.

Hints of some of the pairings I like likely abound, but there's nothing major other than my apparent blatant need to put in at least hints of – if not blatant – USUK and CubaCanada wherever I can ahah.

Hmm... I seem to only be able to come up with titles if they're puns or corny plays on words, though this one goes more with the previous idea I had for this fic than the current one. ... Oh well.

Not beta'd.

* * *

"America, I refuse to wear this in front of other people!"

"...So you'd wear it if it was just the two of us?" America asked with clear amusement in his voice.

England flailed in frustration and nearly smashed his hand against the bathroom mirror. "_NO_, that is not what I meant! Why didn't we just go with your Wizard of Oz idea? I wouldn't have minded being the Tinman." He readjusted one of the strap sleeves of the top to his outfit again since one or the other kept sliding off of his shoulders. If he didn't know any better, he'd have thought America picked this size on purpose...

America stood near the doorway holding the wings to England's outfit he still needed to put on. "Heheh... We can use that next year maybe. Besides... You lost the bet, so now you have to wear what I say to the party. Be thankful that it's _me_ choosing the outfit and not France. Seychelles got to pick his out."

The older man shivered at the thought. "For at least that much I _am_ thankful. Thankful enough to likely include that in my 'What I'm thankful for' part of Thanksgiving dinner next month too – do you already have that fully planned out by the way – especially depending on how this party goes. Though I still don't know how you two won..." He gave the other a suspicious look before turning his back to him and holding his arms up to let America know to slide the straps for the wings around his chest.

After wrapping and fastening shut the straps for the green fairy wings America settled the half-shirt back over it in the front, which managed to hide most of the straps from view, at least in the front. They were still somewhat noticeable with the mostly-open back of the shirt, but not many people were going to probably notice or care, especially since the straps were clear and the buckles hidden under the shirt in the front. The wings themselves thankfully weren't that heavy, so they should manage to stay in place for at least most of the night. "Well, let that be testament to not betting with either of us anymore. And I have most of it planned out. I'll probably have it at my place in Virginia. At least also be thankful I found this outfit and not like...a Tinkerbell one or something. At least this is masculine enough. Plus, the green and gold match your eyes and hair." England didn't need to know that America had asked Japan to make this outfit and had just been waiting for a chance to have or make the older man wear it.

Another shiver traversed England's somewhat scantily-clad body at the thought of wearing something like the famous fairy's outfit, though he blushed a bit at the last comment as it could be taken as a compliment to his looks. He'd never been all that familiar with compliments that weren't empty if he received any at all, let alone a meaningful one from someone as important to him as America has always been. "Bets or not, I would not wear that outfit or anything else like it. The fairies can like those kinds of dresses all they want, and most of them _do_ look quite nice in them, but I am _not_ wearing one." He adjusted the straps for the wings slightly before moving to look at himself in the full-length mirror on the back of the bathroom door.

He had a green shirt that settled a little above his navel. Gold embroidery decorated the bottom hem and neckline and outlined the about two inch-wide straps for the sleeves and circled around under his arms. A matching pair of shorts were held up with a brown belt with a gold buckle. The wings were thin and a grass green to match the rest of the outfit with gold swirls creating intricate patterns across them. "These shorts are so...short... Could I at least have some shoes? I'm going to likely be cold enough as it is in this ridiculous outfit."

America moved to gather together the tips for his pointed ears, some make-up adhesive, a couple of make-up sponges, and a container of flesh-colored paint. He moved England to stand beside him at the counter and started to put them on him. "That's why they're called 'shorts,' and, sorry, but there aren't any shoes. Most fairies don't wear them, right?" England also didn't need to know that America found as many ways as he could to get him into shorts, especially short-shorts, as often as possible ever since he saw him wearing some with some of his old military outfits.

England accepted being lightly manhandled into position back near the counter though looked like he still didn't like the current situation at all and scoffed at the shorts comment. "Not that I wanted to go outside in this anyway, but that's rather limiting me to the house, you know. And why do I need to have pointed ears? Few fairies have pointed ears I'll have you know."

After checking the work on the one ear, America started on the other one. "But some do then, and I thought it was a nice touch. So long as you don't try and like...itch your ear or something they shouldn't bother you anyway." He finished up on that ear and moved a little away to let the other man have a look in the mirror for himself.

England tilted and turned his head from side to side to have a look at America's work. The tips blended well with the tone America had chosen for the paint and England's pale skin. "I suppose they'll do."

Knowing that was England's way of complimenting him without actually saying as much, America smiled and started putting the make-up supplies away. "You won't have to wear the costume for too long anyway, so you can relax. I'm glad my costume won't take as long, especially since I already dyed my hair."

England shook his head ruefully. "I still don't know why you thought dying it black was a better idea than just wearing a wig."

"You know I don't really like wearing them. Besides my hair works for my costume anyway. Just gotta gel it back a bit." Having said that, he picked up the container of gel and a comb.

"You should probably get into the rest of your outfit first since the top has to go over your head anyway." England sat down on the edge of the tub since the wings made it a little awkward to sit on the lowered toilet lid.

America paused as he realized that was probably a good idea. "Oh, right! Well, at least it's easier to get on than yours, hahah." He half-jogged back into the bedroom, coming back shortly with the blue top with the familiar red and yellow "S" in the center already on. "I'll put the rest on afterwards."

England smirked from his spot on the tub edge. "Heh... Your red boxer-briefs are fitting. You should just go like that."

"Pff... Yeah, right. I'd look ridiculous. Plus, I'm the host. I have to look the best!" He started to gel back his hair, leaving Nantucket standing like normal.

"You're just using this as a chance to go as another one of your superheroes and brag about him and how you're a hero just like him. You've already been Batman. I still can't believe you made me dress up as Robin. And it was one of the skimpier outfits too! What? Are you going as Spiderman next year?"

America checked to make sure his hair was all right and laughed. Man... That had been awesome. Too bad England had hid behind the cape as much as possible. "Maybe. I could probably get Tony or Japan to help me make a fully-functioning web-shooter and something to help me stick to walls! That'd be awesome!"

England rolled his eyes as he crossed he legs and rested in chin in his palm, though he smirked picturing it. "I'd like to see you crawl up onto the ceiling or something and the device fail. Would serve you right."

America stuck his tongue out at him before turning to head back into the bedroom, England following after him. "You can be really mean you know. You want to see me embarrass myself and maybe get hurt? Though someone as strong as me wouldn't get hurt from such a small fall." He picked up the blue leotard-pants and started pulling them on. "Besides... I thought we could do Captain America and Hawkeye and get some of the others to join us like we're planning with the Wizard of Oz idea. You're a kick-ass archer. Or maybe you should be the Hulk? Hahahah."

England had moved to stand beside the bed while America worked on the rest of his costume. He'd been flattered at the compliment about his archery skills and might have agreed if America hadn't tacked on that last comment, so he threw a pillow at him. "How rude! And I was contemplating the idea of being Hawkeye! Now see if I agree to it!"

Catching the pillow while trying to balance on one leg without toppling over was tricky but America managed. "Hey! Watch the hair!" He set the pillow back down on the bed and finished pulling on the blue bottoms. "So you'll be Hawkeye with me? ?"

The younger man looked so excited. England felt himself crumbling like last time with the whole Batman - Robin fiasco. He sighed in resignation, knowing full well he might as well agree because he'd likely be persuaded one way or another, and some of those ways weren't as pleasant as others. "Fine..."

"YES!" He pumped his fists into the air. "We'll have to see who the others want to be. Hungary can be Black Widow, and Prussia might want to be Iron Man, though he'd make a good Fury too. Canada can be Coulson or maybe Thor, and Cuba could be the Hulk, you think? Though if Prussia wants to be Fury, we'll still need an Iron Man..."

England let him think out loud, watching him with a small smile on his face. It was amusing in a content, heartwarming sort of way watching America get so excited over something he obviously cared about, even if it was something like this. He felt he might as well say something though. "Or_ I_ could be Iron Man. The costume would be a pain, but I probably fit his personality a bit more than Hawkeye's. We'd still need a Hawkeye though and a Coulson if Canada goes as Thor. He has similar hair and a similar build for it, even if he hides the latter under those hoodies of his so much."

America wondered if England remembered him mentioning that there was canon evidence of Captain America and Iron Man (...or...Woman anyway) being together in one of the alternate storylines, not to mention all of the sort of questionable moments in even the more mainstream comics. "Hmm... Well, if we can get Seychelles to be Agent Maria Hill, we might get France to go as someone..., but...he doesn't really fit Hawkeye _or_ Coulson. He doesn't fit Thor either. He's more of a Loki... Well..., Prussia is too. Man... We'll have to talk more about this later and plan things out better. I'm totally keeping the Spiderman idea open for the following year though!"

"Yes, yes... Now hurry up, or we'll be late, and it's happening just downstairs. People should start arriving any time now."

"I know, I know!" He grabbed the red underwear-like part of the outfit and slid it on before grabbing the boots and pulling them on. Last came the belt and cape. He finished fastening the cape as they headed back downstairs.

He had chosen his home on the outskirts of New York City since it would be easy enough for everyone who was coming to fly into and stay in the city while still being far enough away that they wouldn't have too many people around. America had also chosen a night when Trick-or-Treat wasn't scheduled since he and England liked to stay at his small house in the city and pass out candy to the kids who came by.

America had gone all-out on the decorations on the main floor. Each room was fully decked out in admittedly cliche decor, though most had come to expect it from him anyway, especially since this was one of his favorite holidays. Each room had the typical fake cobwebs and such and low lighting, fake candles providing most of the light. Tony had helped him rig his sound system up around the whole first floor so the haunting music could be heard in every room.

They headed into the kitchen to start bringing out some of the snack foods to the tables set up in the dinning room for the large buffet-like spread America would be offering his guests. As they were setting up the doorbell rang.

"Sweet! The first guests are here!" America ran off to answer it, England following at a far more leisurely pace.

Canada and Cuba stood on the other side, both with their arms full of bags of candy Canada had offered to bring to share with everyone. So many people liked his maple candy, his brother included, that America didn't mind at all. One look at his twin though and Canada wanted to smack him. "What are you wearing? ? I thought we were doing the Wizard of Oz this year?"

America froze and could feel everyone's, including England's, glares on him. "Ah...hahah... Oops... Oh yeah. You weren't there when we were making those bets. Did I forget to tell you we were doing something else?"

Canada had been about to say "Yes, I was there the whole time..." out of habit, but he stopped himself in time because he had no idea what his brother was talking about. "What bets?"

Waving for the two to come in, they headed to the kitchen, America trying to explain so the other three wouldn't try and punch him or yell at him or something. "Oh, well, a bunch of us were having drinks together, and we started making stupid bets. England and France ended up having to wear what Seychelles and I tell them."

"So I'm wearing this skirt, wig, and these fake boobs for nothing?" Canada motioned to the checkered skirt of the Dorothy outfit he'd ended up with in their little group because no one else wanted to be her (Though why none of them had thought to ask Seychelles if she wanted to be Dorothy with them was a question likely not to be answered anytime soon.). The wig was actually a color similar to his own blond hair instead of brunette like Dorothy is usually seen with and tied in two pigtails that almost reached his elbows.

America shrugged and smiled sheepishly. "Ahah... I don't suppose you have anything else to change into?"

The more northern of the two sighed in irritation. "_No_, and I don't really have the time to even if I did anyway. You'll just owe me one. I won't accept any objections."

"Sure. How about you be Thor with us next year?"

Canada was a little surprised at the character offered. "Uh... Maybe. ...So long as you don't change your mind at the last second again. Though at least with Thor it won't be as bad if I'm the odd one out."

America smiled and started to unpack the bags his brother had set down into bowls to take into the dinning room. "We can talk more about it later."

England looked over at Cuba and could tell he was still disgruntled about the costume mix up. "Don't feel too bad, lad. At least your costume's not so bad. Do you want me to help you with those?" He motioned to the bags the other man was still holding.

Cuba had turned to look at England when he'd been spoken to and couldn't help the double take at the fairy costume. It took a lot of effort not to laugh quite loudly at him, but he managed to keep it as a wide smile and amusement in his tone. He wasn't feeling so bad about his Lion outfit now. "Yeah, thanks." He handed over two of the bags to England, and they started unpacking the candy inside and placing them into bowls.

With two more people helping out finishing setting up for the party only took about another fifteen minutes. The four decided to just sit back and relax while they waited for the others to start showing up.

America in particular was excited about the upcoming party. He just wouldn't tell the others the main reason why.

* * *

After a few phone calls it appeared that not everyone who said they could or would come would be able to make it after all. It seemed that it was going to be the four of them, France, Seychelles, Prussia, Hungary, Austria, Germany, Italy, Romano, Spain, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Japan, Greece, Russia and Belarus.

America had laughed outright when he'd opened the door to find Russia in a giant gorilla costume. "Oh man... I forgot we got you to bet with us and your sister ended up winning the right to pick out your costume. Why a gorilla though? I thought she'd go for something like...a prince and princess or something."

Russia had taken on his creepy aura that America seemed to ignore. "She had suggested several similar ideas, but I had said I would prefer something different. I am not quite sure where she came up with this idea, though I am certain it does not help that finding costumes, or even making them, for people my size is not easy. We mostly went so far with what we did last year because of the contest." He lowered his voice to hopefully not really be heard. "I am at least thankful that King Kong does not seem to have a love interest..."

Belarus herself seemed to have chosen something somewhat unexpected as well, especially since it didn't go with her brother's costume at all. She had on what looked like medical scrubs but covered in dark stains meant to be blood (At least America hoped it was fake blood. Sometimes one just can't tell when it came to these two, even if they had mellowed out quite a bit over the last couple of decades.). She had a metal tray that had various tools taped down on it to prevent them from falling off if it was tipped.

Most of the others had arrived in one big group. Prussia had black feathers glued to the sleeves of his black shirt and the black fingerless gloves he had on along with a matching black feather tail glued to the top of his black pants. He told them he was the eagle from his flag because it was the most awesome eagle ever. The eminent quarrel between America and the albino over who had the best eagle was averted when Hungary smacked the latter in the back of the head. She had chosen a centaur costume ("Um... Hungary...? I know there are topless laws that let women in New York go without a shirt or anything, but..." "Oh, don't worry, America. This is a flesh-colored top." She moved her hair from where it was covering most of her chest and the shirt became more obvious.) that Austria somehow had the (mis)fortune of being roped into being the back end of. Prussia then had the brilliant idea of teasing him about looking at Hungary's butt all night. _That _had almost started another fight if Germany hadn't thought it wise to finally relocate his brother to somewhere else in the house.

Germany was dressed like his ancestor (He was a little reluctant to call him grandfather since he didn't really know the man besides the few times he'd had to come and drag Rome's spirit away.) Germania as Italy had somehow convinced him to go as his grandfather since Italy himself was dressed like his own grandfather, Rome. Romano was dressed up as their grandfather as well, gladiator armor and all. Spain wore his own lion costume as the lion gladiators are often depicted fighting against. Romano had no problem smacking him with the fake sword of his outfit "to make it seem more real."

Switzerland and Liechtenstein were a sheep and a wolf respectively. When asked all Switzerland would say was it was Liechtenstein's idea. Nobody questioned him further. Any number of weapons could be hidden in all of that fleece...

France and Seychelles came next. England almost pulled something laughing at the Frenchman's costume (He was even too amused to bother responding to the remarks France made about his own fairy outfit.). Seychelles had him dressed as the Beast while she had on a blue and white dress as Belle. France even had fur-covered gloves with fake claws, fake fangs, and a fake fur top on that covered everything from wrists to neck to waist under the cape around his neck. He had horns atop his head and some of the fake fur glued along his jaw.

Last (though not quite surprising; Greece's failing economy wasn't exactly helping with his sleeping problems) came Japan and Greece. Japan had on a red and white kimono and hakama with simple wooden zori and white tabi. This would be normal enough, but he also had on a very fluffy white tail and matching white fox ears. Greece's chimera costume looked a lot like a lion as well, but he had a very reptilian-looking tail that even had a snake head at the end and long horns on his head much like a goat's.

Figuring everyone had arrived who was going to be there, America watched everyone having fun from off to the side, sipping some of the "witch's brew" (It was just punch made to look like it was smoking, though not with dry ice. He had _heard_ things about what happened when some humans tried that...) and waiting for the sun to set.

A Halloween party doesn't really start until it gets dark after all.

* * *

America's home wasn't _small_, but trying to keep everyone in one room (and without making it obvious) was a bit too difficult, so he just decided to let them do what they want. The ones who weren't off in the dinning room for food were gathered in the living room, having fun and sharing stories.

A nervous sort of excitement was building up in the host of the party and not from the impending ghost stories that the others had talked about sharing later on. '_Just a few more minutes... I hope it works.'_

As the sun started to sink below the horizon that America could see from the window he was standing near, he turned to the other people in the room. '_I'm not going to believe him again if this doesn't work._'

When the last bit of sunlight faded there was a sudden burst of light from within the room itself and everyone cried out, blinded and caught off guard.

Once the light faded there was a long pause as everyone tried to assess the situation. Then there was a loud chorus of, "ENGLAND, WHAT DID YOU _DO_? !"

* * *

After getting over the initial disorientation America looked around at the room, wanting to see everyone's reactions. He wasn't quite expecting what he saw.

It looked like part of a zoo had taken over his living room. There were _definitely_ two lions, a wolf, a sheep, a large black bird, a white fox, and...what would have been another lion if it wasn't for the horns, snake (head and all) for a tail, and hooves for back feet. He had thought there were two horses as well...until he looked up further and realized they had human torsos above the horse-half's shoulders. The others seemed normal enough though.

"I have boobs!" Canada's voice was still somewhat soft even while shouting, but the pitch was higher with the surprising sudden change in gender.

The darker lion had paused in his potential freak-out to turn to him (her? ?) and would have blushed seeing Canada cupping his now quite feminine chest if lions could blush.

"I have them too! Why? ? And why am I naked? ?" The group turned to what had _sort of_ sounded like Austria, only to find that he was now a very female-looking centaur, trying to use his arms and now much longer hair to cover his bare chest.

Hungary was having a slightly difficult time trying to figure out how to walk on four legs but had no problem with her own bare chest, though part of her even through the confusion of it all wondered where her top had gone.

Prussia was testing out his wings and was rather disappointed that it took so much effort to stay airborne indoors. He would have been more distraught with the situation if he didn't think being an eagle was kind of cool. He was also in a better mood because he could laugh at Austria for now without having to deal with Hungary's wrath; he could just fly out of her reach once she got used to walking on her new legs.

Romano wasn't taking things quite so well though, even with the added muscles that came with his own costume-turned-real. "What the hell is going on? !"

"England! I know this was _your _doing, you stupid, magic-obsessed Eyebrows!" France stormed into the room – Seychelles, Belarus, and a six-and-a-half foot tall gorilla with purple eyes that had to be Russia following him – looking not the least bit pleased that his Beast costume was now not so much a costume anymore. He flashed his fangs as he growled rather impressively while looking around the room for the man in question.

Everyone had turned to where England had been standing by one of the couches...only to not see him there anymore. Then there was a very quiet jingle-like sound that wouldn't have even been heard if it wasn't deathly silent in the room and a small ball of green and gold light staggered out from around one of the legs of the couch. Upon closer inspection it became obvious the little figure was England.

America rushed over to pick him up before anyone could step on him (whether on purpose or not). "You okay, England?"

England put his hand to his head (The rush from when he'd been picked up hadn't helped his disorientation any.) and groaned. When he looked up he gaped and then screamed, "What the hell is going on? !" in a version of his voice one might expect of a mouse in one of America's animated movies.

Biting his lip to keep himself from laughing at England's squeaky little voice (even if it didn't help keep the silly smile off of his face), America answered him. "Well..., I wanted to make this party a great one, so I sort of...borrowed one of your spells?"

England gawked up at him. "WHAT? ?"

There was another, albeit much smaller, flash of light as all of a sudden Russia was now pushing against the ceiling, having quickly grown another couple of feet taller.

Everyone scurried away as fast as they could (though the ones with a new extra pair of legs more tripped than actually ran) away from him lest they end up squished under him.

Germany was the first to react. "If he's going to keep on growing, we have to get him outside before he brings down the whole house!"

Spain was slowly getting used to his four legs as a lion and was trying to stand protectively in front of Romano as Italy held onto Germany's arm. "I agree, but how? He's already too big to get through any of the doors now."

Another flash of light and a sickening crack and Russia was now tall enough to crash through the ceiling and part of the front of the house. In the resulting chaos nearly everyone ran out of the new opening, trying to get away from him. Russia himself also made his way outside.

"Oh man! My house!"

As America was lamenting the damage to his house, England noticed that most of the others had not only run outside but were now nowhere in sight. "Where did everyone go...?"

Germany, Italy, Canada, and Seychelles were the only ones left inside. The six of them walked out of the new addition to America's home and tried to see where the others were. They could all see Russia lumbering off down the street.

Seychelles was the first to notice. "You don't think he'll head into the city, do you? We should stop him."

"Easier said than done," Canada added while looking for the others still, "and we need to find the others too. A bunch of animals and mythical creatures on the loose... Oh maple..."

England glared up at America. "How did you even get a spell to work? ? You don't believe in magic and my friends!"

The younger man was starting to realize just how bad things could become and was starting to freak out a bit. "You gave me a flippin' _unicorn_, England, and turned France into a little kid! Kind of hard to keep on_ not_ believing! ... I only keep teasing you about it because you're fun to fluster."

"America! I'm going to strangle you when this spell is over! What spell did you even use? ?"

He tried to remember the words, but they weren't coming to him at the moment. "Uh... Something about making something more realistic. I thought it would make our costumes more awesome!"

England pulled at his hair. "IDIOT! If it's the spell I think it is, oh, it'll make our costumes more realistic all right! So realistic that as time goes by we'll start to _become_ our costumes even more than we already have! Did you not think this through at _all_? !"

"You know... I can't take you at all seriously when you sound like that. You sound like you've been sucking on a helium-filled balloon."

England let out what would have been an impressive frustration-laden scream if he hadn't been all of four inches tall. He settled for making up for the squeaky-sounding yell by using his new-found easier access to magic to use America's cape to try and go through with his strangling threat ahead of schedule.

Germany was growing increasingly aggravated with the whole situation. "Both of you stop that and shut up! This is a serious problem! If all of them are going to become their costumes we have a bunch of creatures that are likely going to hurt or even kill people on the loose! We need to find a way to get them all back here and do something about this!"

Trying to remember the spell, England looked back up at America again. "Did you specify a time-limit on the spell?"

America smiled a little shakily. "Yeah, I remember that part. I made it midnight. I thought it was fitting..."

Facepalming, England tried to think of what they could do. "Ugh! I can't remember the specifics of the spell, and without the spellbook it's from we'll have to let the spell run its course; it's dangerous to mix magics. That means that we have around five hours for the spell to wear itself out. At the rate that Russia's changing though we'll likely all be fully changed within a couple of hours. We have to find them quickly and find a way to lock them up until twelve."

Italy spoke up from where he was standing by Germany. "Well, we could lock up most of them in the rooms that are still okay inside. I don't know about Russia though. We'll need a cage the size of the Coliseum to hold _him_."

The others turned to look at him, only now noticing that his body was a bit taller and more muscular too than before. He hadn't seemed all that scared or hesitant when he was talking either.

Canada was the first to ask, "Right... The spell affects even non-animal costumes. Italy, who are you dressed as? A gladiator?"

The amber gaze turned to him with a confident smile to go along with it. "I'm my grandpa! He was a great warrior, but, yes, he also spent time as a gladiator sometimes."

The others shared a look. Germany couldn't help but think, '_He's becoming like that weird man...? Wait... That means I'll start acting like Germania too?'_ "We need to deal with this quickly if even _we_ are going to start changing."

"At least I didn't bring Kumajirou and have him dressed liked Toto..."

America was quick to add, "Well... At least China and them couldn't make it. We'd have the Eastern zodiac on the loose then along with India as an elephant."

England was hardly all that placated. "You forget... _RUSSIA is KING KONG!_ How the hell are you going to stop him and pay for any damages and _explain what the hell happened_? !"

The younger man cringed. "At least no one was a vampire or a zombie or something?"


	2. Holiday Havoc - What to Were 2

While splitting up would have been better to likely find everyone quicker, it was decided that the six of them would stick together since right now only America and possibly Germany and Italy could safely handle some of the creatures the missing ones had turned into if they had already changed enough to start losing their human side.

America himself was pouting at not being able to use two of his new abilities. The superstrength didn't really count since he had always been abnormally strong even for one of their kind. "This would be going a lot quicker if I could just fly around and try using my x-ray vision to find them, you know."

England was clutching onto his cape on his shoulder since he still didn't quite know how to use his wings adequately yet and would likely end up tiring himself out trying to keep up with them anyway. "Knowing you, you'd end up using your laser vision by mistake and doing who knows how much damage..."

Pout deepening, America crossed his arms and glared at the pavement in front of them. "Why do you always gotta say stuff like that?"

England sighed and patted him on the side of his neck (the only part he could reach right now) consolingly. "Just keep on the lookout for them."

Although he was unable to use some of his new powers, America still found that he had the superhearing that he could freely use. "Now that I think about it...I'm glad that this increased ability to hear isn't driving me nuts from not being able to block out stuff. But anyway I think I hear something over there in that wooded area."

He'd pointed to the large expanse of trees off on one side of the road. Canada couldn't help his/her shoulders from drooping. "Searching for creatures that could potentially hurt or even kill us in a large, dark, spooky woods... Yeah, how did I not see that coming."

"Kesesese... Because it's so unawesomely cliche?"

Everyone looked up and saw a large, black bird perched in one of the nearby trees.

Germany scowled up at his brother-turned-bird. "What are you doing up there? Why did you run off?"

Prussia made a shrugging-like motion and flapped his wings a few times to take off, quietly gliding over and landing in front of them softly. "Hey, I didn't run – or _fly_ – off! But even though I'm an awesome eagle, that doesn't mean I wouldn't have been squashed under that big ape."

England was quick to try and refocus the group. "It's great that we've found one already, but we need to keep moving and quickly. I still don't like the idea of splitting up, but now we have two people who could get a good view from above. Germany, Italy, Prussia, why don't you three head off that way," he pointed to the left side of the wooded area, "and the rest of us will go further to the right. Did you see how many of the others went this way, Prussia?"

The large eagle pushed himself off of the ground before settling himself down on his brother's shoulder. "I think I saw everyone but Russia and Belarus go this way, so at least it should be easy enough to find everyone."

With a nod England turned back to America, Canada, and Seychelles. "Let's get going. The sooner we find everyone the quicker we can go after the other two."

The others nodded, but Seychelles was quick to stop them for a moment. "I think we should go over everyone – or every_thing_ anyway – we're looking for since there are quite a few."

America nodded in agreement. "Well, there's France as the Beast, and Romano as your guys' grandpa, right? Spain and Cuba are both lions. Greece sort of is too with that costume of his."

"A chimera," England added.

"Right. Um... Japan was a white fox."

"A kitsune I imagine."

America gave England a dry look. "Yeah, yeah. Anyway... Um... Hungary and Austria are centaurs – _ha_, got that one," he gave England a triumphant smile, and England gave him a bland look in response, "Switzerland and Liechtenstein are a sheep and a wolf. Is that everyone other than Russia and Belarus?"

Germany was quick to agree. "Yes, but now that that's settled we should go. Come on, Italy." The Italian jogged off after him, and the three soon disappeared into the trees.

The others quickly turned to the right and headed off, not really knowing quite which way to go, but America pointed out where he thought he heard voices coming from.

It took them several minutes to find what they were looking for (America grinned sheepishly, saying he still wasn't quite used to the superhearing and hadn't realized they were so far away.), but they eventually came across a rocky outcropping that led further northwards into a small mountainous range. In a clearing near a cave in one of the cliffs a dark-colored lion with a mane of black dreadlock-like hair sat looking towards and yelling into the cave, "I don't care what you look like, you pompous pervert! We need to find our way back! It's _your_ fault we're lost now with your stupid desire to hide yourself!"

Canada was thankful to have found the two but sort of cringed at how mad the lion sounded. He'd been (unintentionally on both of their parts) on the receiving end of that anger a fair share of times. "Cuba?"

Cuba perked up at the voice and trotted over to Canada as a voice that was obviously France's called out from the cave, sounding both angry and hectic. "I cannot let anyone see me like this! I look positively hideous!"

England was quick to answer that as he was growing increasingly aggravated by the Frenchman. "You always look hideous. Get out here _now_!"

There was a pause before a tentative, "...England?" and then uproarious laughter. "I had already forgotten you sound like a hinge in need of oil, what with your constant squeaking." France's large, furry figure made its way out of the cave entrance.

While he had been about to yell back at France for the comment about his voice while stuck as a fairy, England looked the other man over and promptly cracked up again, nearly falling off of America's shoulder in the process.

France was hardly pleased with being laughed at while he looked like an overgrown dog with horns. "Yes, yes. I'm glad _someone_ is having fun. Are we going back now?"

America couldn't keep the laughter out of his voice nor the smile off of his face at the Frenchman's appearance, and England's laughter wasn't helping. The man-turned-Beast even had sticks and leaves stuck in his hair and fur from his run through the woods. "Yeah, as soon as we find the others. It's great we already found two of you though." He paused and shut his eyes as he tried listening for any other voices. He could hear Germany yelling at Prussia and Italy to quit messing around and look for the others. No matter how hard he tried though, he couldn't seem to hear any of the others. Maybe he had worse control of the superhearing than he'd thought. Frowning, he looked at the ones standing around him. "I can't hear anyone else other than Germany."

England collected himself and looked around them as he thought about what they could do. An idea soon came to him. "Some of them are mythical or magical creatures. I could probably sense them if I was able to concentrate enough, especially since I'm one now too. I'll need everyone to be quiet though."

The rest of the group was somewhat skeptical, but it's not like they had much else to go on at the moment, so they nodded and waited to see if he could do it.

Closing his eyes, England tried to concentrate on first himself and then slowly work his magical awareness further out from him. He wasn't quite sure this would work, but he could normally tell if his magical friends were around him back at his home, so he could only hope he could sense the others if he tried hard enough. Magic was so much easier to sense in his own country.

The others were growing a bit impatient, but after a few minutes England opened his eyes and looked up again. "It's faint..., but I think I can sense someone over that way." He pointed a little back the way they came but off more towards where Germany and the others had gone.

America looked that way, tempted to try his x-ray vision but deciding not to attempt it. He really _could_ mess it up somehow and use his laser vision instead and end up setting the mostly dry, half-dead woods on fire or something equally as disastrous. "Should we see if Germany and the others find whoever it might be first? I think they're closer."

England shook his head. "No, we should find whoever it is then move on. We shouldn't waste time hoping the other group finds whoever it is first. We're at an advantage in abilities to find the others anyway just with your superhearing and my ability to sense other magical and mythical beings. Let's go."

* * *

Germany was almost ready to hit his head against one of the nearby tree trunks. His brother was being particularly annoying and not very helpful at all just sitting on his shoulder for most of the time, and Italy was sort of creeping him out with the sudden changes in his personality. On top of that they hadn't found any trace of any of the ones missing other than some broken branches on bushes and tufts of fur and fleece. He would have to guess they'd been at this for half of an hour already, which didn't bode well with England's prediction.

He was about to ask his brother to try flying around to see if he could find anything when they heard a loud commotion coming from ahead of them. They quickly made their way towards the voices.

"Your sense of direction is _still_ _horrendous_! How do you even survive stepping outside of your house? ?"

"I beg your pardon? ? I have no problem finding my way around, thank you very much."

"Bullshit! It's because of you that we're lost. I need to find Liechtenstein!"

"Both of you calm down. I'm sure she'll be just fine." Hungary kept any comments about Austria's sense of direction to herself. "We should try and find our way out of here. I can't believe we made it so far into these woods before stopping. I'd forgotten how fast horses can run..."

Germany, Italy, and Prussia entered the clearing the two centaurs and the sheep were standing in.

Prussia slumped down a little on his perch on his brother's shoulder. "Well..., _that's_ anticlimactic. We found three of them already without anything awesome happening."

"I'm just glad we found them at all." Germany walked over to the other three. "You three, come on. We need to find the others and get back to America's house quickly. It's already been at least half of an hour since we've changed. If England's prediction is correct, we have roughly an hour or so before we start truly losing ourselves to our costumes."

The three had turned to them when they had entered the clearing, all looking relieved (Or at least they thought Switzerland looked relieved; it's kind of hard to tell on a ram.) at having been found by people who likely knew the way out.

Italy gave a victory cheer and raised his now-not-a-toy sword. "Wonderful work, everyone! Now onwards to find my brother, big brother Spain, Liechtenstein, and the others!" He started to march off in a random direction but was thankfully stopped by Germany grabbing a hold of the back of his cape.

"Italy, stop that! We have to stay together and go about this in a proper manner; we can't just head off in a random direction." He sighed and turned to the recently-found trio. "Have you seen any of the others since you ran into these woods? Though I doubt it since they're not currently with you."

Switzerland shook his head as much as his current form would allow. "When I was trying to get away from Russia and the collapsing house I wasn't really looking where I was going. It was like I was too panicked to pay attention to anything but getting away... I think Liechtenstein was nearby, but we lost each other in the trees. I came across these two, but the aristocrat had already gotten them lost."

Austria was quick to protest. "Hey, if you found us, then you're as equally lost, fool." He/She was still trying to cover the very female and bare chest with his/her hair and arms.

"That still means we're lost, idiot!"

"Enough!" Sighing and rubbing his head at the oncoming headache, Germany tried to regain control of the situation. "Brother, why don't you lead them back to the house. You can come back and help us look afterwards."

Prussia ruffled his feathers and looked quite put out. "What? Lame. I don't want to miss anything, especially since nothing's even happened yet. By the time it would take to lead them back and return you'll have probably found everyone and had some kind of epic battle or something!"

"Brother, you're being ridiculous. Lead them back and then come back here! You can fly and find your way out of these woods quickly then fly back just as quickly. The longer you take to complain, the longer this is taking to get done!"

The large eagle waved a wing like he was trying to dismiss the conversation. "Geeze... Okay..." He flapped his wings a few times before taking off and heading up above the canopy. "Come on. Let's get this over with."

Switzerland didn't want to go though. "I want to stay and find Liechtenstein. She's likely on her own out here."

Hungary and Austria had moved to follow after Prussia. The former turned around when Switzerland voiced his desire to stay. "I don't know if that's wise. You're a sheep right now, and she's a wolf. We should go back to where it's safe and she won't have a chance to attack you."

Switzerland looked appalled at the thought. "She wouldn't attack me!"

Austria had turned around as well and spoke up. "We know you two are close, but this is a highly unusual situation. We don't know what might happen once this...spell or whatever it is starts changing more than just our appearance. You said yourself that you were too panicked when you ran away from America's house to pay attention to where you were going. That doesn't sound like you at all."

Staring down at the ground, Switzerland was reluctant to say anything to that.

Prussia was circling around overhead. "Come on, guys, let's get a move on. We're running out of time."

"All right. I'm coming..."

Watching the four of them go, Germany looked back at Italy who seemed to be practicing attacks with his sword. His form was actually rather admirable. Shaking his head to try and clear his thoughts, Germany moved to grab his attention.

Hopefully finding the others would be as relatively easy but not as time-consuming.

* * *

It took America and England's group around twenty minutes to come across the one England seemed to have been sensing.

Laying on a large flat rock near a small stream, Greece seemed completely asleep, which...didn't really surprise anyone, though it was sort of amusing he was still like that even when changed into one of his mythical creatures.

"Should we wake him up?" America was reluctant to wake other people up since he hated to be woken up himself.

England nodded, though it was hard to tell with him being so small. "We don't have a choice. We need to hurry up. We don't know if Germany and the others have had any luck either."

"Okay."

America walked over to shake Greece awake since he normally couldn't be woken up by someone just talking to or yelling at him. When he had reached for the chimera's shoulder though, the snake-headed tail shot up and would have bit America if he hadn't used his new superspeed to move out of the way quickly out of reflex.

England went tumbling off of his shoulder in the process though and had to quickly right himself mid-air with wings he was still unaccustomed to using. "What happened? ? Are you all right, America? ?"

Not feeling any puncture wounds or even scrapes from the snake's fangs, America waited for him to fly back over and let him settle back down on his shoulder. "I'm okay. Sorry about that. I just sort of instinctually moved away really quick. The superspeed just made it a little _too_ quick. Sorry."

England pulled up the sleeve-strap that had slid down during his fall and sat back down on the younger man's shoulder. "No, it's all right. We'll need to be careful though. I have a bad feeling..."

America frowned as his brow creased in worry. "I hate it when you say that."

Greece blinked open his eyes and stretched and yawned, showing off impressive fangs and claws. When he looked over at the group he paused and visibly grew tense.

America and the others then felt England's bad feeling themselves. Had too much time passed by and Greece didn't recognize them anymore?

* * *

Germany and Italy had no idea which way to go now, so they reluctantly ended up wandering further into the woods with no idea where they were going or if they were even getting close to anyone. The small signs in the dirt and plant-life had started trickling away not long after finding the other three.

Germany would estimate they had been wandering for at least another twenty-five minutes and was growing increasingly apprehensive about their situation. He couldn't sense anything different about himself other than the obvious physical ones like the much longer hair that he'd had since the change first happened, but since Italy didn't seem to realize his own personality and physical changes that was hardly comforting.

A loud roar soon echoed throughout the woods, and the pair turned to where it seemed to be coming from. Was it Spain? Greece? Cuba? Maybe France? They took off into a run, Germany knowing that it definitely wasn't a good thing that whoever it was was actually _roaring_ like the lion or lion-like creature he'd been turned into.

Crashing their way through some bushes, they came upon an interesting sight. Or it would have been had it not looked like Romano was about to run one of the lions through with his sword. Germany rushed forward and tackled South Italy before he could follow through with his attack. Italy in the meantime had stepped forward to block the lion's path towards the two, sword held out and body positioned in an assertive stance, ready to attack if need-be.

Romano pushed Germany off of him with an impressive show of strength and quickly stood back up, picking up his sword and readying to attack again. "Germania? ? What are you doing? ? You know not to stop me in the middle of a match! I almost had the beast too."

Germany felt something like a ball of dread drop into the pit of his stomach. Romano was already that far gone? That didn't bode well for the others then. He decided to play along though, since it would likely make Romano more agreeable. "This...beast isn't one to be killed. It needs to be taken back to be locked away...for...a match later on. In front of a crowd...at the Coliseum. We have the place for it ready, but we should be going. It's almost time...to...um...to eat. It would be best to have a good meal before a big fight."

Romano seemed to debate with himself over Germany's words before breaking out into a big grin and laughing heartily, patting the tall blond on the shoulder in a friendly manner. "Well, you should have told me, though I didn't know you liked the Coliseum fights that much. Let's subdue this beast and head off then." He turned to the lion who had stayed oddly quiet since Germany and Italy had arrived.

Based on appearance Germany would have to say the lion was likely Spain since he remembered Cuba being a darker color and having a darker mane. If the two were actually fighting though, then that meant Spain seemed to be at least partially lost himself, though it was somewhat comforting that he hadn't actually attacked them yet. Germany didn't want to get his hopes up and let his guard down though either way.

Romano stepped up beside his brother who smiled at him and received one in return. They both readied their swords and rushed forward before Germany could stop them.

Spain seemed caught off-guard at the double attack and scrambled to move out of the way of a swing of one sword, only to have the hilt of the other come down on his head hard and knock him unconscious.

Germany had been about to yell out a reiteration of "Don't kill him!" but cut himself off when it seemed like they both understood and had merely attacked Spain to knock him out.

The brothers both sheathed their swords and picked up one end of the fallen Spaniard's lion body and draped it over a shoulder. Italy then turned his head towards Germany. "Well, where is this place you said to put this beast?"

"Uh..." Germany slowly dropped the outstretched hand he'd been holding out when he'd been about to yell at them and sighed, feeling a bit overwhelmed all of a sudden. "Let's wait for my brother to come back. He can lead the way better than I can."

* * *

Greece hadn't calmed down any and had even crouched down like he was going to attack if anyone came too close. The snake-head-tipped tail was poised like a cobra ready to strike as well.

England tried not to move even if he was the least likely to be seen. "I should have known that's what the bad feeling was about..."

America kept very still himself. "Not helping."

Cuba moved back until he was partially behind Canada, who peered down at him with an odd look on his/her face.

Their movement caught Greece's attention though, and he growled once before backing away and running off into the trees.

America lurched forward out of reflex to stop him but stopped mid-step. "Oh crap. What now? We can't just let him run away!"

England was trying to keep track of where Greece was heading. "I agree, but we need to handle this delicately. He can harm any one of us easily, and I don't know what's in the venom of the snake's fangs."

"Can some of us stay back here, since we won't be of much help and can get hurt...or worse?" Cuba was still hiding behind Canada.

Canada was looking worryingly down at Cuba but then remembered something. "Oh maple... Your costume was the _Cowardly_ Lion."

France was becoming visibly frustrated with the situation, though the others couldn't tell if it was because of his costume or not. "Let's all just follow him and knock him out and carry him back to the house. Someone check in with Germany and see how much progress they've made."

"Not that I want to agree with the Frog, but it's a decent idea. America, lead the way since you're the one of us most likely to be able to handle Greece attacking you." England didn't want to say he thought France could probably hold his own in a fight with his current form but might lose himself enough to end up hurting Greece if they ended up in a fight. "The rest of us will follow you." He fluttered his wings a few times to take off from America's shoulder and hovered nearby as they started off into the trees.

While he would normally be pleased (and sort of surprised) at England telling him to lead them so adamantly, America was a little put out that it seemed the only (or at least the main) reason England was doing so was because he was the best shield.

* * *

– And this is all I have for any of the rest of it for now, but I thought I'd show it anyway. –

"You know... With all of the chaos I completely forgot about our annual scare contest."

"America... I don't want to deal with anything Halloween-related for at least the next year..."

"Party pooper..."

...

"Hey, England...? I have a favor to ask..."

* * *

"I hate you..."

"Oh, come on, England! We'll be doing a bunch of good and helping Finland and the other Santa's and stuff!"

"Why do I have to be a reindeer? ?"

"Because you're cute in the costume and you had one anyway?"

"Ugh, you owe me then. Do you have any idea how difficult it was to alter the spell to make it only change us physically, not mentally in any way?"

* * *

I had actually wanted to include Turkey as a genie, but he was already that last year. ~w~ I was also thinking of having Canada change into a mouse costume so he and Cuba could be the Lion and the Mouse, but I think I'll use that idea in a different way somewhere else. I also wanted to have Denmark as a mermaid and Norway as a troll, and Iceland and Mr. Puffin would be dressed as each other and would switch places, but I couldn't think up outfits for Sweden and Finland. And I know Japan was a kitsune in the Halloween pictures two years ago, but I wanted him to be one of his mythical creatures along with Greece. I was tempted to have him come as Godzilla and then battle King Kong!Russia, but... Oh well.


End file.
